


Thieves in the temple tonight

by Justafewthingstosay



Series: Penumbra Podcast Pain [1]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Angst, Don't Read This, Kinda Hopeful Ending, Like i'm for real, Other, POV Juno Steel, Pain, Peter Nureyev - Freeform, Spoilers for the ending of season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-31 19:43:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21151166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justafewthingstosay/pseuds/Justafewthingstosay
Summary: I was standing in front of him and I couldn't breathe.He was back, right there, right in front of me.He looked just like he did when I left. And the worst thing of all? I still loved him just as much





	Thieves in the temple tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so the ending of season two literally made me drop to the floor, so here you GO

I stood in front of him.

Peter Nureyev.

God, I would be lying if I said I hadn’t missed him. And to see him here, standing in front of me. To have him back, I didn’t know how to handle it. 

Especially because I didn’t deserve it. 

  
He was standing right there. And I didn’t. I just didn’t deserve it. 

So I took a deep breath and nothing. 

I looked at him and it felt like hours. It felt like the entire time we had spent together was going through both of our minds in record speed. 

From our first meeting to our first kiss. And to our last one. To the silent confession, we had shared in that dark hotel room after we escaped Miasma. 

God, I just wanted it all back. And I knew it was my fault. I knew it was my fault that we didn’t have it anymore. I was the one, who ran. I was the one, who chickened out. I was the one idiot that left the best thing that ever happened to him. I was the one, that let our entire shared life slip away, only to be confronted by it now. 

And fuck, I still loved him. I still loved his eyes, his sharp smile, his sharp teeth. 

I loved everything about him.

His voice, his dumb jokes, the aliases with the most ridiculous names, that still somehow always worked. I loved every single bit of it. 

I had loved it since I met him. And I hadn’t even mentioned his cologne yet. The cologne that haunted me. The entire time he was gone I imagined it. I imagined how it would smell if he walked into a room. That scent reaching my nose and me losing myself in it. 

That smell had been my home. 

I remembered how sometimes my brain tricked me into smelling it. I remembered how my heart had skipped a beat and my palms had grown sweaty. Just waiting for him to walk in so that I could beg at his feet to take me back. 

And now he was here and I had the feeling that finally, finally, I would get the chance to make everything better. The chance to get him back. 

Normally when I had smelled that cologne, or thought I did, he wasn’t there and now, I join a group of crooks and boom. He’s here. My past and I wished my future, was standing in front of me. Once again. 

He was just standing there, but just his presence let the sunshine dimmer. He was outshining it without an effort. 

He was just as beautiful as I had remembered him. Just as strong. And just as angry. 

“Nureyev, I-” I began but he interrupted me. 

“Do you really think you should talk right now Juno?” 

“Nureyev, I-” I began again. He took a deep breath, I did the same. “I want to say that I’m sorry. I want to say I’m sorry so bad and I know that you probably won’t accept it and I know that I don’t deserve your forgiveness. And I wouldn’t even be angry at you, you shouldn’t accept, why should you? Why would you accept it? Why would you take me back?” 

His face was ice cold. Not a single muscle moved, so I just continued. 

  
“I hurt you, I hurt you so terribly and God and I know, I know, I don’t deserve you back. I know that I don’t even deserve to be in the same room as you. I don’t even deserve to breathe the same air. Not after everything I did to you.” 

I tried to establish eye contact with him, but even when I got it, it felt like he wasn’t looking at me. 

“Not after the pain, I put you through. Put us through. But I want to say that I’m sorry,” I pushed a hand through my hair, my palm sweaty. “Fuck, I’m so sorry. For everything. And I-” I let out a small breath. 

  
“You know I’m not that good with words, so, I’ll just stand here. I won’t do anything to fight back. You can sock me in the face as many times as you want and I won’t fight back. I will just stand here and do anything so that this might be easier on you. You can do whatever.”

My voice stopped shaking. “It doesn’t matter what you give to me its what I deserve. You can break my nose or shoot me with your stun blaster, that is fine with me, I know that I deserve it. I know I don’t deserve you back, but I think for the arrangement we both have with Buddy we at least need to be able to work together. At least a little bit.” 

I put up my hands and I stood still. His eyes finally met my single one and he was actually looking at me now. And for the shortest glimpse, I saw his teeth, his lips curling up into a small smile until that smile faltered and it felt like my entire heart was being pulled apart. 

But I didn’t move. I didn’t even deserve to be here. 

He did though. He was a brilliant thief, a master of his craft and what was I? A lousy detective that couldn’t even shoot right anymore. 

Then he moved. I was breathing normally just a second ago and the second he took a step forward, I felt like I was hyperventilating. The scent of his cologne growing stronger with every step he took towards me. 

It felt like I was suffocating in the cloud of that scent. I had the feeling I was suffocating on the love that I still felt for him. My battered heart so happy to see him back, that it was urging me to move, but I didn’t. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t flinch, I didn’t move away. 

And he came closer, and closer until he was just a foot away from me. 

There was just a foot between us, between me and the man that I had hurt. 

A foot and his eyes stared into my face with something that I couldn’t pinpoint. And then suddenly, something happened that I didn’t expect. 

  
I didn’t expect to feel his soft hand on my cheek. I didn’t expect for him to pull me in and to feel those soft lips on mine once again. 

No, I didn’t expect that, but God it felt good. 

I kissed him back and before I could get lost in it, he pulled away. He looked just as frightened and confused as I did. He didn’t expect himself to do this.

“Well Juno-” he started before letting out a breath. “I know that our feelings for each other are still reciprocated, but you also need to understand that there is no way that I can forgive you. For now. 

“We will work together and I will try to be as fine with it as I can possibly be, but do not think you can get away with this without an explanation, do not think that I will ever, well, that I will just accept what you did, because I will not. And, don’t you ever, ever say again that you deserve the worst. Even after what you did to me, I could never hurt you the way you hurt me. And I know you probably think you had to do it, which is why I can’t even be mad at you. You probably thought you had to go back and save Hyperion City.” 

He took a short pause, but I didn’t dare to interrupt. “So, therefore, Juno Steel, we will together. We will stay on this ship together and we will try to be fine with one another. Understood?” 

His eyes were cold, but I could tell there was something in them. Hope. So I let my lips curl up just a little bit. The smallest smile that was matched by his and I nodded. 

“Understood, Nureyev.” 

He nodded as well, it was small and shaky. Then he turned around and walked away.  


As I watched him walk away from me, I felt my entire face light up. 

He didn’t hate me. 

He thought that this could work and for the shortest second I let myself hope. That maybe when all of this is over and we had talked, that maybe, maybe we could still work.

  
We had before. 

  
Maybe the universe would just allow us to work once more. 

Just once more. 

Hope is dangerous like that.

It makes life worth living and that is the most dangerous thing in my line of work.

A reason not to give up. 

He had always been mine. Even after I left, but even though I knew it to be true, I wasn’t ready to admit that to myself yet. 

So I didn’t and just watched him walk away. 

Peter Nureyev. The thief that stole my heart. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> If you feel like yelling or talking about podcasts to someone you can find me on tumblr under [marveldevil](https://marveldevil.tumblr.com/) or twitter at [Justhingstbh](https://twitter.com/Justthingstbh)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you think!


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